Adam Driver Tried To Come Back To Star Wars and Disney Said 'Nah'

Like most of the internet, I’m not immune to coming up with stupid parasocial narratives that have absolutely zero basis in reality. I’m talking vibe-based stuff that I just assume is correct for no other reason than it exists in my head. One of those narratives is that Star Wars was nothing more than a stepping stone for Adam Driver, the only non-Oscar Isaac cast member whose career took off like a rocket. A surprising move given Star Wars has never been a star-making franchise. Just ask Mark Hamill or Hayden Christensen.

Anyway, my radar was way off because, apparently, Driver was already itching to return as Ben Solo barely two years after The Rise of Skywalker closed out The Sequel Trilogy with such a dull thud that Star Wars hasn’t returned to theaters since. In 2021, Driver was so serious about coming back to the sci-fi series that he got Steven Soderbergh and his wife Jules Asner to outline a story that Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm were naturally interested in.

Soderbergh writing a Star Wars with a meteoric talent like Adam Driver attached? That’s a no-brainer unless you’re a franchise whose parent company is suddenly very concerned about bringing characters back from the dead. Via AP:

“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver says. “We took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no. They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.”

“It was called ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ and it was really cool,” adds Driver. “But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.”

Soderbergh, in a statement, said: “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”

In Disney’s defense, I’d probably be skittish about bringing Ben Solo back to life after the whole “Somehow, Palpatine returned” debacle. Sure, this is a universe with at least two recent space wizards (Rey and Baby Yoda) that have healed people on screen, but I get the hesitation. That said, after Andor showed what Star Wars can be when you let an auteur cook, Disney should have been beating down Driver and Soderbergh’s doors.

Instead, we got The Book of Boba Fett and watched as Disney drove The Mandalorian into the ground before throwing its corpse at a movie screen. I’m not saying people should cancel their streaming subscriptions over this revelation, but I’m not not saying this is as bad as the Kimmel thing. Maybe even worse.